Firefighters Hurt In Cleveland Circle Fire

BROOKLINE, MA — At least two firefighters were sent to the hospital with minor injuries and multiple people were left homeless after a fire on Strathmore Road Monday evening. Flames were showing from the back porches of the three-story brick building when crews first arrived. Authorities told bystanders the fire may have started because of a candle.

The fire started just after 7 p.m. The smell of smoke hung in the air for hours as those who fled their residences watched crews battle the flames at the three-story apartment building.

Part of Beacon Street was closed during the firefighting effort and people took to social media to wonder aloud why so many fire trucks.

According to unofficial scanner reports, fire officials were concerned that the building might not be stable enough for firefighters to stay inside fighting the flames, which spread from the middle floor balcony to the porches above and below and also inside the building. Newton, Boston and Cambridge firefighters were called in for backup.

Officials said the three units at 13 Strathmore were uninhabitable for the near future.

Micah Levey, who just moved in next door Sept. 1, said he and his roommate were making dinner around 7 p.m. when his roommate said he smelled something particular. Initially, they brushed it off.

But when his roommate went to check outside, they heard people exclaiming, "Oh my God, what's happening?"

That's when they saw a small fire on the balcony next door. In a flash, the small fire engulfed the entire back porch area on all floors and the air became filled with smoke, he said.

The two raced to get out.

Another neighbor told Patch he and his wife called 911. The two watched the fire from its inception from the opposite side of the alleyway, on Beacon Street, he said.

According to him, the fire started on the first floor porch floor, which he thought looked like a charcoal grill burning with an accelerate. A young man was crouched over it near a couch at the end of the porch.

"As we watched the porch, the fire flared up in front of him, at which point, we started to yell to him, and he walked off the porch. We asked him if he called 911. He responded 'I'm trying to figure this out,'" according to the neighbor who said he tried calling 911 just after 7 p.m. as the couch caught on fire and the porch floor started burning.

From that point the fire went very quickly and spread to the second floor porch, then the third floor by 7:13 p.m.

The next morning it appeared most of the damage was on the second floor of the building.

UPDATE: Cause Of 3-Alarm Fire In Cleveland Circle Under Investigation

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Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).